Colin Cowherd has a honest assessment of Jerry Jones and his running back in Dallas, Ezekiel Elliott.

- I do not think Jerry Jones is a dope. I think he's very smart. In fact, among all the NFL billionaires, the word is that Jerry Jones really controls the NFL owners. Jerry Jones said, let's move the Raiders to Vegas. They did.

Jerry Jones is not a dope. He is impulsive, but he's not a dope. Jerry Jones-- I didn't like it when he did it-- but when Ezekiel Elliott got himself in a really ugly situation-- a legal situation-- Jerry Jones aggressively defended him.

And over the weekend, Ezekiel Elliott did something. And there's a difference between not hustling and quitting. There was an interception thrown by Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott on the field quit.

You can do a lot of things in sports. You don't quit. You can give us 60% effort. You can blow an assignment.

You can drop a pass. You can make a bone-headed play. You don't quit on your teammates in sports. That's what Ezekiel Elliott did on the interception by Dak Prescott, and yet here is Jerry Jones defending Ezekiel Elliott again. Listen.

JERRY JONES (ON RECORDING): Well, I think if you look at everybody's reaction to that interception-- several Dallas Cowboy players on that interception-- you saw what would not be the case in a closely contested ball game. I think you can point to Zeke. But you really have to look at the general effort to chase that ball down by most of the people that were on the field. Dak gave it everything he had to try to contain that interception. But still, you look at it across the board, and you'll see you need more effort than what you see.

COLIN COWHERD: No, Jerry, you're pandering. Jerry, you're smart. OK. There is one thing getting your wife a poor gift at an anniversary. There's another not getting her a gift at all, and knowing it's her anniversary.

There's a difference between a bad gift and no gift. OK. Jerry Jones is smart. Read between the lines. He knows this is totally unacceptable in football.

He knows this sort of body language is awful in football. And he knows everybody else at least tried to get in the play. One guy quit.

Jerry knows that Zeke has no self-awareness. So why-- read between the lines-- why would Jerry, for the second or third time, be on an island defending Ezekiel Elliott. And I think there's four reasons why.

Number one is Jerry is 75. Time is running out. He knows this offensive line is not going to be there forever.

They're expensive. He's got a great running back, a quarterback for the future, a star wide-out, and the right defensive coordinator. Time's running out for Jerry to win more Super Bowls.

Number two, Zeke is an all-world talent. He is. The best blocking back in the league, maybe the best back period in the league, and maybe the second or third-best pass catcher on the roster. And the last time Jerry had a running back like this, Emmitt Smith, they won multiple Super Bowls.

The third reason, though, is really crucial. This kid is a walking time bomb. And Jerry feels like, I've got to save him.

This is what's happening here is that Jerry knows-- and Jerry knew it when they drafted him-- that this kid is the linchpin to a lot of his success to win that Super Bowl, and this kid is lost. This kid is wildly immature. This kid has the worst self-awareness currently in American professional sports. And Jerry feels like, I've got to save him because it's saving me and saving my chance to get one more trophy.

And the fourth reason is blind loyalty. It's always been Jerry's brand to a fault. But Jerry is not a dumb guy. He's a really smart guy. And for the second time, he's on an island defending Zeke.

And in this instance, there is nothing you can say to defend him. What he did in sports is indefensible. You never ever quit. It is a rule of sports.

You can be lousy. You can drop passes. You can underachieve. You don't quit. Zeke quit, and Jerry is defending him, and Jerry knows it's wrong.